Some NZ lines companies and their regulator can learn a valuable lesson from our Aussie cousins. In South Australia, the lines companies sought to introduce a solar tax by charging a different price through their lines charges if you as a residential and business consumer used solar.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) refused to allow this to happen and regulated accordingly, as it would set an unwanted precedence for other lines companies in other states to do the same. The lines companies took it to court – and lost.
But in NZ the lines company Unison, who introduced a solar tax to penalise solar users in their region, without consultation with consumers, without defining the value of solar to their network, has been allowed by the regulator the Electricity Authority, all while the Authority is consulting on new pricing models for lines companies. They need a lesson on how to act in the best long term interests of consumers from our cousins across the ditch.